Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Bonus Avios offers with Starwood, Melia Hotels and NH Hotels

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As well as the Hilton HHonors promotion I trailed yesterday, Iberia Plus is currently running three other Avios special offers with major hotel groups.

As Avios can be transferred from an Iberia Plus account into a British Airways Executive Club account – as long as the Iberia account is 90 days old – an Iberia promotion is as good as a BA promotion when it comes to increasing your Avios balance.

Here are the three new deals:

Avios wing 9

1,000 bonus Avios with a 2+ night Starwood stay

Starwood (Le Meridien, W, Westin, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Aloft, St Regis etc) is offering 1,000 bonus Avios points on stays of 2+ nights.

To take part, you need to switch your Starwood Preferred Guest account from earning points to ‘airline direct deposit’ and choose Iberia as your airline partner.

The snag with this offer is that you must book a special rate code, AIRPRO.  You must book via spg.com and add AIRPRO in the promotional code box.  Make sure you compare the price to the standard rate without the code, just in case you are being charged extra.

This offer is valid for stays until 31st December 2016.

NH Hotels

1,500 Avios at NH Hotels

NH Hotels is one of those niche European hotel chains that is rarely seen in the UK (although there is one in London) but crops up quite frequently on the continent.  As well as the main NH Hotels brand, the group also includes Hesperia and nhow.

The standard earning rate with NH Hotels, Hesperia and nhow is shown here at iberia.com.  You earn 450 Avios per night for a 5-star, 350 per night for a 4-star and 200 Avios per night for a 2-star.

Until 30th June, you will earn double Avios on a stay which includes a Friday, Saturday or Sunday.  All hotels in the chain seem to offer a 3pm check-out and breakfast until noon on Sundays so they are not a bad choice for a weekend break.

Looking at the small print, the text infers that this offer only includes hotels in Spain so the London property may be out but it isn’t totally clear.  More details on the NH / Iberia web page.

Melia Rewards

Double Avios at Melia Hotels International

It is unlikely this deal will work for many HfP readers but I will mention it for completeness.

Melia is offering double Avios for 5+ night stays at Melia or Sol hotels in Spain.  You must book at melia.com by the end of June for stays by 15th September.

Full information is on the Melia page of iberia.com here.


How to earn Avios from UK credit cards

How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (April 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

British Airways American Express

5,000 Avios for signing up and an Economy 2-4-1 voucher for spending £15,000 Read our full review

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital on Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.

Comments (10)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Rob says:

    I maybe about to start a two/three month placement in Spain so thanks for the heads up about Melia definitely switching my stays for double avios.

    • BigDave says:

      If you sign up for Melia Rewards you get 2000 of their points as bonus (but you can’t transfer these to Avios for example) but you can use them right away on getting a discount on a booking (I just did: about 30€ saved) the booking would earn you points anyway which I used Amex for – the ratio is 30 / 100 I think for Iberia Plus avios….

      • BigDave says:

        And I found out just now if you check in online you get an extra 1000 melia points.
        And if its your birthday you get an expiring discount voucher or a free room upgrade on your next visit.

  • Matt says:

    Has anyone received the Avios from the last Economist offer? I seem to recall 15k were offered but no sign of them yet in my account…

    • TGLoyalty says:

      12k and yep posted about a month after signing up

      Would chase as they should have posted by now

  • Londonbus says:

    MAtt – yes. I subscribed in early February – and the points hit my Iberia Plus account about 5 weeks later.

  • Simon Fisher says:

    Am I missing something! How do I actually get the Avios for a booking? I cannot seem to find a link to click through to book a hotel, do I just give them my Iberia card on arrival?

    I am staying in NH Logrono next week. Already booked via Hotels.com, so I suspect will not be valid for this deal.

    • Rob says:

      No, it probably won’t count. However, it never hurts to try. Hand over your BA card at the desk and see what happens.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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